Music is an ageless language, whose interpreters are drawn
together by an invisible but powerful bond. After 90 years of
living, most of which have been spent in the company of fellow
music legends, Henry Townsend remains the St. Louis Blues Ambassador
to this global fraternity. A gifted guitarist, keyboard player,
composer and lyricist, Townsend delivered the classic and classy
touch to recordings by fellow artists John Lee Sonny Boy
Williamson, Roosevelt Sykes, Walter Davis and Big Joe Williams,
among others.

Born in Shelby, Mississippi, Townsend moved to St. Louis
in the early wave of the Delta Exodus and grew up to become a
central figure in that citys influential blues scene. Throughout
a recording career that began in the late 1920s and either flourished
or languished with the popular fortunes of the genre, Henry Townsend
has never lost his passion for music and has continued to perform
and compose. In fact, it was during a slow point in the popularity
of acoustic blues that old friend Big Joe Williams pointed the
Adelphi recording crew to Townsend for this edition of the Blues
Vault series, the first songs of which were made in the basement
music room of Townsends St. Louis home. This collection
evolved over a period of five years, and in it are delightful
lessons from a master for those just learning this wonderful
language, as well as for those more fluent.